Investigation into the recovery of valuable metals from waste mobile phone printed circuit boards (PCBs) : an Australian case study

Electrical and electronic equipment including mobile phone devices have developed rapidly and their useful lifespans reduced as a result of the changes in equipment features and designs. This creates a large waste stream and lately became a critical environmental issue. Printed circuit board (PCB) is one of the main components of the waste electrical and electronic equipment. PCB typically contains various metals including valuable (copper, gold, silver, platinum) and toxic heavy metals (mercury, lead, arsenic). Recycling of end of life mobile devices has the potential to solve many problems including resource depletion, environmental pollution, and landfill disposal. This article investigates the feasibility of the recovery of valuable metals from waste mobile phone PCBs through a city based induction smelting plant in the city of Sydney, Australia. Mobile phones from different companies, models, and year of manufacture collected and average weight percentages of materials content for each type of phone have been reported. A laboratory size smelter then utilized to recover precious metals out of waste mobile PCBs. It concluded that local electronic waste recycling in Australia is theoretically viable and prevent the ethical and legal issues raised from exporting these wastes.